Literary Verses and Courses

We had a beautiful afternoon at Heartwood Community Café today, May 26, 2016. Our trip to Heartwood, a space that practices radical hospitality, was only two hours long but it felt like we packed a lot in. The chefs and staff were accommodating, welcoming and so nourishing to our writing practice!

Elee introduced board member Amber Dawn, who collaborated with us in LETTERINGS two years ago. Several writers had either just read her How Poetry Saved My Life or made mention of it. Amber Dawn mc’d the event, which began with a sumptuous feast catered by Heartwood.

  

As we shared this nutritious meal we thought about what sustains and nourishes us. Cease Wyss took the stage to talk about her practice as an indigenous plant diva. She spoke about tending community gardens, gardening with children, starting her tea business, passing on the centuries-old traditions of preserving food. It was fascinating and evoked a strong, positive response. After she spoke we turned to our writing. For about 10 minutes people had the opportunity to write about anything they had heard or thought up this afternoon. The open mic was fantastic!

 

After the exceptionally good impromptu sharing Heartwood graciously gave us take out containers to carry away the leftovers. Our afternoon of listening, writing and feasting was superb. Thank you to Heartwood, Amber Dawn, Cease Wyss and our sponsors, Canada Council for the Arts, Community Arts Council of Vancouver, SFU Writing and Publishing and the anonymous donor who contributed, too!

Next week we are back at Carnegie. Stay tuned for our 8th book launch on June 16th!